Sharpton, Guinier Coming To W&m Event

Pair To Headline Student Conference

November 10, 1993|By JIM STRATTON Daily Press

WILLIAMSBURG — Two controversial figures in the civil rights movement, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Lani Guinier, top the list of speakers scheduled to appear at William and Mary's black student leadership conference.

Sharpton is the fiery New York-based preacher that Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan once called "the baddest black brother on the East Coast and on the West Coast."

Guinier is a University of Pennsylvania law professor who was nominated to head the U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division earlier this year.

The two will deliver keynote speeches at W&M's eighth annual National Black Student Leadership Development Conference Jan. 20-22. About 800 students from around the country are expected to attend at the Williamsburg Lodge.

Public reaction to Sharpton's appearance has been polite but reserved.

Several students and professors said while they may not agree with Sharpton's combative approach, they don't mind him appearing at the conference.

"He may not have been my first choice," said Ronald Sims, a professor of business and president of the Black Faculty and Staff Forum. "But I think's it's appropriate there be a broad range of viewpoints."

Likewise, the school's new director of affirmative action said William and Mary shouldn't shrink from providing such speakers a forum to air their opinions.

"I think we'd being doing our students a disservice if we didn't expose them to as wide a spectrum as possible," said Michael A. Powell. "I've got no problem with it."

Privately, however, many professors and college officials were less diplomatic. Their comments were typified by Jenny MacNair, editor of W&M's student newspaper.

MacNair said she didn't begrudge Sharpton the chance to speak but added, "He's not really a step toward `let's all get along.' "

Sharpton's critics say he's lost credibility since becoming involved in the Tawana Brawley case several years ago.

In that incident, played out over 1987 and 1988, a black teen-ager claimed several white men abducted and raped her. Sharpton became a chief adviser to Brawley, blasting authorities and accusing them of a cover up.

But his reputation took a nosedive when a grand jury ruled there was no evidence to support Brawley's story. The panel concluded there had been no rape and that Brawley had concocted the entire story.

Since then, Sharpton has toned down his rhetoric. He ran, and lost, in a New York Democratic primary for a Senate seat but has not ruled out other bids for elected office.

Guinier's appearance will likely create less of a stir.

After her nomination, Guinier's scholarly writings on voting and the election process came under political fire and President Clinton pulled her name from contention.

Guinier had earlier served as a special assistant in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department and was an assistant counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund from 1981 to 1988.

Each year, she says, conference participants are asked who they'd like as speakers. Sharpton and Guinier were among the choices this time.

Hardy, who founded the annual meeting, hedged when asked if she would have chosen Sharpton.

"It's not my conference," she said. "I believe it's important to listen to the students. And important they get a chance to listen to people we may or may not agree with."

Hardy would not say how much it cost to bring in Guinier and Sharpton but she said the price for both speakers combined was "in the $10,000" range. That money, she said, will come from fees paid by the students attending the conference.

Last year, Spike Lee spoke to a crowd of almost 1,000. The year before that it was Gov. Doug Wilder.